I make no claims or
guarantees that the information contained in this document is the definitive
truth. The information has been obtained from various sources or based on my
collecting experience and is true to the best of my knowledge.

0)Overview

1 Styles, types and
embossing.

1.1 What is a Mason
Jar?

1.2 What is a
Lightning Jar?

1.3 What do the
numbers [on the bottom/sides of jars] mean?

1.4 Are square jars
unusual?

1.5 What is a Boyd
cap and what kind of jar does it go on?

1.6 What type of
rubber ring went with the zinc caps that have a white porcelain inner side? Is
there a source for new rubber rings to fit these lids?

6.2 Can you
recommend a good book on the history of jars or jar makers?

6.3 How do I go
about selling my old jars?

6.4 How do I
subscribe to the Fruit Jar News?

7 Reproduction jars

7.1 What are some
examples of reproduction fruit jars?

7.2 How can you
spot a reproduction?

7.3 Ball
commemorative canning jars from 1976.

7.4 Do you know of
any sources of new jars with glass lids?

8 Bibliography

Subject: (1)
Styles, types and embossing.

Subject: (1.1) What
is a Mason Jar or my jar is embossed with "Mason's Patent Nov. 30th
1858"?

The
familiar term Mason Jar came after its inventor, Mr. John L. Mason, who, at age
26, was a tinsmith in New York City. He perfected a machine that could cut threads
into lids, which ushered in the ability of manufacturing a jar with a reusable,
screw-on, lid. These jars freed farm families from having to rely on pickle
barrels, root cellars, and smoke houses to get through the winter. For urban
families, Mason Jars allowed excess fruits and vegetables to be preserved for
use later.

Historians
believe the first jars were made at Crowleytown's Atlantic Glass Works, in
Crowleytown, New Jersey. These are very rare.

These
jars carry the familiar embossing "Mason's Patent Nov. 30th 1858".
This date refers to the original patent date, not the actual date of
manufacture. Jars carrying this embossing, often with other monograms, numbers,
letters, etc., were widely produced until about 1920. Most were produced in the
1880s-1910s. The identities of many actual manufacturers are unknown.

Value
depends on embossing, color and size. Common mason jars are worth about $6 but
some rarer versions can be worth $100 or more to collectors.

Subject: (1.2) Tell
me about my Lightning (Lightning style) jar.

Lightning
jars represent an important advancement in the history of home canning and are
still a part of American culture. Some historians suggest that the term
"white lightning" may have been inspired not only from the effect of
ingesting homemade corn whiskey but by the name of the jars the whiskey was
frequently stored in. These familiar jars with their glass lids and wire bales
are still found in novelty stores today.

In
1882, Henry William Putnam of Bennington, Vermont, invented a new kind of fruit
jar by adopting a bottle stopper patent by Charles de Quillfeldt. The Lightning
jars became popular because the glass lids prevented food contact with metal,
the metal clamps were cheap to produce and the lids themselves were much easier
to seal and remove. The name Lightning suggested that the jars were quick and
easy to use. Variations of the glass lid and wire-bale scheme of the Lightning
jar were produced for home canning into the 1960s.

The
earliest advertisements for the Lightning jar date back to the year 1885. Mr.
Putnam was the man behind the marketing of the Lightning jars and making them
popular. Mr. Putnam also held exclusive ownership of the patents, and for many
years, claimed the impressive profits from selling the jars.

The
Lightning jars were made by a number of glass companies in several states
including Lyndeboro Glass, Lindboro, NH; Edward H. Everett of Newark, OH; Hazel
Glass of Washington, PA; JP Smith of Pittsburgh, PA; Moore Brothers in Clayton,
NJ; Mannington Glass of Mannington, WV; Wellsburgh Glass and Mfg. of
Wellsburgh, WV; Poughkeepsie Glass Works of Poughkeepsie, NY; the Hawley Glass
company of Hawley, PA; and two Canadian glass makers Sydenham Glass of
Wallaceburgh, Ontario and Dominion Glass Co. of Toronto. There were also
variations of the Lightning jar produced in Australia.

A
trademark patent was issued to H.W. Putnam in 1905 for the name Lightning.
Interestingly, Putnam was living in San Diego at the time but it is not known
if any California company made his jars glass.

The
Lightning jars come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes and can be a
collecting specialty in and of themselves. When first made these jars were
often sold as commercial packing jars that homemakers later used for canning. Value
of Lightning jars varies greatly. Price is usually determined by size, style
and especially color.

There
were some reproduction amber Lightning jars from Taiwan produced in the 1980s.
They are quart sized and have new and what I would say are sloppy looking
wires. They have smooth lips, are dark amber in color and have Putnam 227 on
the base. These jars are worth about $15. There could be legitimate Lightning
jars with Putnam 227 on base, although I've never actually asked anyone if they
have one in their collections. Once you've seen a few repros it's pretty easy
to spot one on a table.

Subject: (1.3) What
do the numbers [on the bottom/sides of jars] mean?

Collectors
frequently refer to these numbers as "mold numbers." However, in some
cases, this term oversimplifies what the numbers represented.

Originally
when jars were blown by hand, the number represented a specific glass blower
and his team. At the end of the day the blower and his team would get paid for
the amount of jars they produced as determined by the number of jars made with
a given number on them. I.E. glassblower #3 made 200 jars that day and he and
his team therefore gets paid X number of dollars at X cents per jar produced.
Later, when glass making went to machine the numbers represented the mold or
machine the jar was made from (usually 4-8 molds per machine or one to several
machines per factory.) That way the plant manager could check quality control,
production, etc.

Today
you can frequently find numbers on new jars that indicate date of manufacture,
plant location, job number, etc.

There
is a rumor that jars with the number 13 were more valuable because
superstitious people were afraid to can in them, broke them or threw them away.
However, I have never found any concrete evidence to back up this claim.
Lately, these jars have sold for more on on-line auctions such as eBay.

Subject: (1.4) Are
square jars unusual?

Square
jars were considered a design improvement because a homemaker could stack more
jars together in less space thus allowing a family to put up more food in their
small cellars or cupboards. Square Jars were made for the Smalley Fruit Jar Co.
Boston, Mass in the late 1890s. Other square jars date from the 20s, 30s and
later.

The
value of square shaped jars tends to be higher than round as it seems that
fewer square jars were made. A number of different companies did make the
square style jars as the design wasn't exclusive to any one manufacturer.

Subject: (1.5) What
is a Boyd cap and what kind of jar does it go on?

Lewis
Boyd filed a patent in 1869 for "an improved mode of preventing corrosion
in metallic caps" i.e. the glass or "porcelain" lining. This
innovation kept food from coming in contact with the zinc in the screw caps.
Boyd was actually one of three men who gained control of the patent for screw
caps and jars originally filed by John L. Mason in 1858. "Boyd's Porcelain
Lined Caps" or zinc screw lids for mason jars were made well into the 20th
century (at least the 1950s) and were interchangeable with the millions of
mason jars made by hundreds of different manufacturers.

The
makers of Boyd fruit jars are different from the "Boyd" milk glass
inserts. Some of the Boyd jars were made by the Greenfield Fruit Jar and Bottle
Company in Greenfield, IN while others were made by the Illinois Glass
Company/Illinois Pacific Glass Company. These jars date from the 1910's and
1920's and have no relation to Lewis Boyd.

Subject: (1.6) What
type of rubber ring went with the zinc caps that have a white porcelain inner side?
Is there a source for new rubber rings to fit these lids?

These
jars took a round rubber gasket with a tab. The only source that I know of
today where these rings can be found is at http://www.homecanningsupply.com/ or
you can get boxes of the old gaskets on eBay.

The
modern two-piece metal cap and ring with a new jar is the best system for home
canning. It can be dangerous to use the old lids and jars to can today.

Subject: (2)
Historical information and dating.

Subject: (2.1) How
can I tell the age of my old fruit jar?

It
is very difficult to determine the age of a fruit jar without seeing it.
However, there are a few ways to make an educated guess at the date of an
antique jar or bottle. Probably the most important is the presence or absence
of a pontil scar. The pontil scar - a ring of glass or a black and red
iron-like indention on the base of a bottle or jar - indicates that a
glassblower held the item on a pontil rod (when the glass was hot) while the
neck and/or lip was shaped and finished by hand. Typically, American pontil
scarred bottles predate 1855 or so.

Another
age determiner is the presence of mold seams. Many of the earliest bottles or
jars were freeblown (that is, blown without the aid of a mold) therefore have
no mold seam. Seams which stop short of the lip indicate that the bottle was
blown into a mold then finished by hand by adding a top or tooling the lip into
shape. Machine-made jars (dating after about 1915) have mold seams extending
from the bottom up to and across the top of the jar.

Another
way to tell the general age of a jar is to examine it from top to bottom. Is
the top smooth to the touch or is it rough and ground off? Look at the base of
your jar. If the base of your jar has a round ring in it and the lip is smooth,
your jar was probably machine made sometime after the turn of the century but
probably before the 1930s. If the jar has a large, rough and jagged ring on its
base, it was probably made between 1900 and 1930 when the Owens machine was in
popular use. Machine-made jars after the 1930s have a more modern look and
frequently have small scars on the bottom indicating they were made on more
modern, sophisticated machines.

Most
jars with rough ground tops were made before 1900. The ground lip resulted when
the glassmaker ground the top to eliminate the "blow-over." The
blow-over was a gob of glass at the top of a jar that the glassblower used to
attach a blow pipe when the jar was blown by hand into a mold. The blow-overs
were removed and the top was then ground flat.

If
you jar is a "wax-sealer" then it was probably made between the 1860s
to the 1890s.

If
you have a clear jar that has turned purple then it was made before WWI when supplies
of Manganese Dioxide, the chemical that causes old glass to turn purple in the
sun, was cut off by German blockades.

If
your jar has gripping ridges on its side that allow a firmer grip on the jar
when twisting on or off the lid, then the was made after 1930 when these ridges
were invented.

The
best way to determine the exact age of a fruit jar is to consult a research
book such as "The Standard Fruit Jar Reference" by Dick Roller or a
volume of "The Fruit Jar Works" by Alice Creswick, or ask an experienced
collector to look at your jar.

Subject: (2.2) What
are good examples of Civil War era jars?

The
manufacture of fruit jars really didn't take off until after the civil war.
Before the war, canning jars (many were actually large, heavy, bulky enamel
lined cans) were expensive and difficult to use. Mason's patent was issued in
1858 but it wasn't until the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company began making jars
after the war did the Mason jar really begin catching on. Later, another major
jar manufacturer and Consolidated's bitter rival the Hero Fruit Jar company
(Hero being in reference to the civil war. The jars carried a 'Hero's cross' as
the company's trademark) fought in court with Consolidated over patents.

Wax
sealer jars as well as old canning crocks could be appropriate Civil War period
examples of canning jars. Some were made during the period. They are more
readily available and cost less to purchase than other Civil War era jars.

The
old original "Crowleytown" masons are appropriate, however, they have
a distinctly different look from that of the later "mason jars."
There were also jars made in New Jersey that utilized glass lids and metal
clamps with thumbscrews. I have another Civil War era jar in my collection with
a metal screw lid that has two prongs protruding out of the top. Again it looks
different than later jars. The shoulders are more curved and the jar has a
heavier more primitive look. The Crowleytowns have the same curved shoulders but
are actually light in weight the glass being rather thin. They also look a
little more primitive than jars manufactured later. Another jar pioneer worth
mentioning is Adam R. Samuel of the Keystone Glass Works, Philadelphia, PA who
made Civil War era jars with heavy glass stoppers.

Because
mason jar and fruit jar making really didn't take off until after the war, many
Civil War era jars are rare and collectible, some going for thousands of
dollars. The wax sealers mentioned above, however, go for appx. $30 and the
canning crocks probably just a little more.

Subject: (2.3) Were
crockery vessels used in home canning?

People
have used crockery containers for pickling and storing food for centuries. An
early example of a pottery jar used for home canning was what I call a
"canning crock." These were wax sealers with a groove in the top
where a metal cover was placed and wax poured over the cover into the groove.
Others, without grooves, sealed with parchment or cloth. Some of these are
civil war era.

Manufacturers
used Mason's patent on crockery canning jars as well as the famous Weir patent
of 1893 utilizing a cast iron clamp pivoting on a wire bale. The jar sealed on
the top with a rubber gasket between the top of the jar and a domed crockery or
glass lid. The Weir jar was the forerunner of the modern cheese jar you still
find at places like Swiss Colony or Hickory Farms.

Some
crockery canning jars, especially those made in Red Wing, Minnesota are in
demand by both jar collectors and Red Wing pottery collectors. Red Wing, Minn.
was a huge pottery town and many people specialize in collecting items made
only in Red Wing. One good example is the Union Stoneware jar that uses a
standard zinc lid and rubber ring.

Subject: (2.4) What
was the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company?

The
Consolidated Fruit Jar Company was in business at New Brunswick, New Jersey
from 1871 to about 1908. In 1859, Mason sold five of his early patents,
including the mason jar, to Lewis R. Boyd and Boyd's company - The Sheet Metal
Screw Company. Boyd is most famous for patenting a white "milk-glass"
insert for zinc screw lids to theoretically lessen the chances that food would
come in contact with metal. In 1871, for a brief period of time, Mason became a
partner with Boyd in the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company. Consolidated hired
other glass makers to blow their jars, including the Clyde Glass Works, Clyde,
New York, the Whitney Glass Works of Glassboro, New Jersey, and the A. & D.
H. Chambers Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Subject: 3 Colors
of Jars

Subject: (3.1) Why
do some old jars turn purple?

When
manufacturers produce glass, chemicals (clarifying agents) must be added to
clarify the batch in order to turn it from its original color of aqua-blue or
green to clear. Prior to the start of the First World War, manufacturers used
Manganese Dioxide as their chemical agent of choice to clarify glass. When a
jar or bottle turns purple from sunlight, manganese dioxide is the substance in
the glass that reacts with sunlight to cause the color change. Russia was the
primary source of this chemical.

When
the First World War broke out, our source of manganese dioxide was cut off by
German blockades. This sudden loss left glass manufacturers in a quandary and
forced them to use another chemical, selenium, to clarify glass. After the
close of the war, manufacturers did not return to the use of manganese dioxide.
Selenium does not cause glass to react to sunlight like manganese does, thus
glass clarified with selenium does not turn purple. Knowing this fact and the
history above, collectors have another way to date their glass collectibles. If
your jar is purple, it is a pretty good bet it was made before W.W.I.

Subject: (3.2) Are
amber or olive green jars worth more and why?

Yes,
jars in amber, cornflower blue, olive green, etc. are worth more because fewer
of them were made and they are in great demand by collectors. The amber jars
were made that way as an attempt to keep fruit from turning brown. The amber
glass kept out the harmful effect of light rays on the contents of the jar.
However, the jars were less popular with homemakers because the contents were
more difficult to see.

Some
jars were made in a dark green color to make contents like olives, for
instance, more attractive to buyers. However, most olive green jars were made
from batches of jars (often at the end of a day) that had impurities in itself.
Consequently, these jars were fewer in number and due to their
"imperfection" frequently discarded.

In
the case of the Kerr Self-Sealing masons found in cornflower blue, the company
was trying to make green jars for a customer but the glass kept coming out in
the wrong color.

These
off color jars are easy to spot by anyone who has seen a few jars here and
there. The colors are usually quite dark and profound. The darker and more
unusual, the higher a collector will pay.

These
jars have the Mason Patent Nov 30th 1858 on the front and a raised almost cross
like emblem on the back. The lid it has is not like the zinc ones, but appears
to be aluminum.

Actually,
the pink jar is a new reproduction from China. They have been turning up in
antique malls for outrageous prices but they're worth about $4-$6 each. The
regular old zinc lids don’t fit right and the aluminum lids are new and shiny
giving away the jar's recent manufacture. These reproductions are copies of the
old Hero jars made in the 1880s. (See more on reproductions below.)

Old
jars were not made in the same colors as these reproductions.

Subject: (3.4)
What's an irradiated jar?

In
industrial facilities, radioactive substances are available that some people
have used to expose old glass in an effort to change its color. Since the radiation
in these substances can be especially potent, the change in color may be
astonishingly deep. Usually these jars are either dark purple or kind of a
sickly dark brown color depending on what chemical originally was used to
clarify the glass. If the jar contains manganese dioxide, when irradiated it
will turn a deep (in some cases almost black) purple. If the jar contains
selenium, it will turn an opaque brown color. Sometimes these deep brown jars
are sold, either inadvertently or intentionally, as real amber jars. If you
have any doubts, ask an experienced collector. One way you can tell if a jar
has been irradiated is to bake it in an oven. A collector in Michigan set an
irradiated jar in a 200° oven for 2˝ hours and the color disappeared. (Placing
your valuable old jars in an oven could cause them to crack, so be careful!)

Subject: 4 What is
it worth?

Subject: (4.1) What
is a good book on pricing jars?

To
learn more about the value of fruit jars I recommend the Red Book of Fruit Jars
#9 by Doug Leybourne. You can order the book post paid for $35 from the author
by writing him at P.O. Box 5417, N. Muskegon, MI 49445. You can also purchase
the book on-line at www.fruitjars.com

Subject: (4.2) How
much are my Ball, Atlas, Kerr or Mason jars worth?

Well,
the Ball, Kerr or Atlas jars tend to be fairly common. However, some jars can
be worth more depending on the actual embossing. (Especially dealing with Ball
jars.) Jars with unusually bright colors are worth more. These were generally
made at the end of a run and contain sediments and chemicals that color the glass.
Amber colored jars tend to be worth more than clear or aqua jars, but this is
not a hard and fast rule either.

If
the jars are "Ball Perfect Masons" or "Ball Ideals" and
blue in color they are probably worth in the neighborhood of $5 ea. This will
be true of many (but not all) of the old blue or aqua colored Ball jars. If
they are clear they will probably be worth $1-2 each. There are some odd and
different Ball jars that are worth more including any misspellings of
"Perfect" you find. The old original Ball jars from Buffalo, New York
are very collectible. It’s kinda hard to judge without seeing what you have or
without further information. It's noteworthy that the square jars are a little
less common and go for about twice as much as their round cousins.

Mason
jars were made by a wide variety of manufacturers over a long period of time.
Some are quite valuable depending on certain quirks of embossing. Others, well,
they are worth in the neighborhood of $5-$10 each.

Check
your Red Book or consult an experienced collector.

Subject: 4.3 I have
a box full of jars that are currently sitting in my garage.

The
jars are made by Kerr, Atlas, Presto, and Ball. Most are in quart size, a few
are pint size, and a few are half gallon size. Most are clear in color but a
few are the aqua green/blue color. Most are wide mouth and a few are small
mouth.

Your
jars sound like 30s and 40s era. Those you named are the main four companies
producing jars at that time. The Presto jars were actually made by
Owens-Illinois in Toledo. The other companies, Kerr was located in Sand
Springs, OK, Atlas in Wheeling WV, and Ball in Muncie, IN.

It
hard to place a price on individual jars without seeing them or knowing exactly
what they say. Sometimes color or spelling variations are worth more. Also
there always seems to be one oddball in every lot. People used to trade a jar
of this for a jar of that and therefore you'll sometimes find an odd name or
two in a box of jars.

Check
your Red Book or consult an experienced collector.

Subject: 5 Tell me
about my...

Subject: (5.1)
Atlas jar.

The
Hazel-Atlas company was in business from 1902 to 1964 until they were purchased
by the Brockway Glass Company. Their headquarters was in Wheeling, WV. The
company came into being in 1902 when the Atlas Glass Company of Washington,
Pennsylvania and the Hazel Glass Company of Wheeling merged to become one
company. Their specialty was the manufacture of fruit jars.

Most
Atlas jars are relatively common, however, there are a few exceptions. The
Hazel-Atlas company made such familiar jars as the Atlas E-Z Seal, the Atlas
Strong Shoulder Mason (the neck didn't crack as easily as the traditional
shoulder seal mason jar) and the Atlas H over A Mason. In the 40s and 50s
Hazel-Atlas was one of the "big three" jar makers along with Ball of
Muncie, IN and Kerr of Sand Springs, OK. Owens-Illinois of Toledo also made
many jars during this period of time.

Some
jars embossed "Atlas Mason" are new product jars produced by a
company using the old Atlas name.

Subject: (5.2) Ball
jar.

Although
the Ball company did not necessarily advance the technology of home canning,
per se, it did make a major contribution to the industry by becoming the most
prolific producer of jars.

In
the early 1880s, William Charles Ball, 35, and his brothers Lucius, Lorenzo,
Frank C., Edmund Burke, and George Alexander began making wood jacketed tin
cans at Buffalo, New York, for the storage of oil, lard and paints. In 1883 the
brothers switched to glass oil "cans" and then, three years later, to
fruit jars. After fire destroyed their plant in Buffalo, the brothers moved
their operations to Muncie, Indiana, where natural gas had been discovered. The
city offered free gas and a generous amount of land to rebuild the company.

The
Ball Brothers seemed to possess all of the talents we associate with successful
business people today.

They
built a fruit-jar empire by mass producing and distributing trainloads of jars
across the country. They aggressively took over several other smaller companies
in order to maximize their hold on the industry. One good example was in 1909
when Ball took over the Greenfield Fruit Jar and Bottle Company in order to
gain control of the Owens automatic bottle making machine license, a
significant business opportunity they passed up some years before in favor of
their own jar making machine. After all, factory automation significantly
reduces labor costs, even back then. The Owens machine did just that by cutting
labor costs and dramatically increasing production.

Some
of the more commonly known Ball jars include the ubiquitous Ball Perfect Mason,
the Ball Ideal and the more modern Ball Mason. Some old Ball jars are very
valuable while others are very common. Because of a wide variety of variations
collecting only Ball jars has become a major collecting specialty.

Subject: (5.3) Kerr
jar.

One
of the most significant advancements in the history of home preserving came
with the invention of the Kerr Economy and Kerr Self Sealing jars. Alexander H.
Kerr founded the Hermetic Fruit Jar Company in 1903. Mr. Kerr arranged for the
production of the Economy jar utilizing patents, (two 1903 patents held by
another man, Julius Landsberger of San Francisco,) calling for a metal lid with
a permanently fastened composition gasket.

The
lids were easy to use and inexpensive. The Economy jars had wide mouths and
were easy to fill. In August of 1915, Mr. Kerr invented a smaller, flat metal
disk with the same permanent composition gasket attached. The lid sealed on the
top of a mason jar; a threaded metal ring held the lid down. Now the homemaker
could re-use her old canning jars while taking advantage of the easy-to-use
Kerr lids. These inventions made the Kerr company one of the "big
three" jar makers in the 40s and 50s along with Hazel-Atlas of Wheeling, WV
and Ball of Muncie, IN.

Subject: (5.4) Root
fruit jar.

I
always thought Root was a great name for a fruit jar because fruit jars were
often kept in "root cellars." When I first saw a root mason, that's what
I thought the name meant. However, the name has nothing to do with a root
cellar. Rather, it's the name of the glass company that made the jars. The Root
Glass Company of Terre Haute Indiana was named after its president Chapman J.
Root and made Root fruit jars from 1906 to 1909. In 1909 the company (at least
the fruit jar part) was purchased by the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing
Company. The jar plant was closed in 1913. Owens-Illinois acquired another part
of the Root company and operated one of the company's plants until 1932.

An
icon of American history, the famous Coca-Cola bottle, is also an interesting
historical side note to the Root story. In 1916 the Coca-Cola company asked
various bottle manufacturers to design a unique Coca-Cola bottle. Almost a
dozen designs were submitted and studied by a committee of seven bottlers, who
met at the 1916 bottlers’ convention in Atlanta. The committee’s final
selection was a design submitted by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute,
Indiana. The well-known hobble skirt Coke bottle.

A
somewhat scarce jar made by the Root company is the Hollieanna Mason. Judging
by its more modern design it was probably produced later than the Root mason
(by the Owens/Illinois division of the company.) The jar itself was produced
for a grocery store concern called Oakley.

Original
zinc lids for the Root masons are extremely scarce and sought after by
collectors. Root masons themselves aren't terribly rare and list (in common
aqua) about $8 for the pint, $6 for the quart and $10 for the half-gallon.

Subject: (5.5)
Crown jar.

Canadian
Crown fruit jars can be quite common, and were made by several different
Canadian manufacturers. A few rare variations do exist, however. It's kind of
hard to tell without seeing your jar, however, if any have ground lips they
would be worth more. Sometimes Crown jars have variations in the shape of the
crown itself or extra embossing that makes them more valuable. Most of the
clear ones from the 40s and 50s are worth about $1 to $3 each.

Subject: (5.6)
Foster Sealfast jar.

Foster
Sealfast jars were made from 1908 to 1925 by different glass companies for the
AM Foster Co. of Chicago, Illinois. Many of the Foster jars were probably made
in Indiana as the concern purchased a glass plant there in 1911. Otherwise,
they paid other glass companies to make jars for them.

There
is another jar that just says "Sealfast" on it that also belongs to
this family of jars. Also a "Trademark Sealfast". All of these jars
should have "Foster" embossed on the base.

The
1/2 pints are worth $8. Many of the other jars are worth about $4-6 each. There
are some of these jars in aqua and blue colors and are worth about $10 because
of the color.

Subject: (5.7) Drey
jar.

Drey
jars (pronounced dry) were made from about 1917 through the 1920s by the Schram
Glass Mfg. Co. of St. Louis, MO and later by the Ball Brother's company. Leo
Drey and his partner James Hiatt patented a jar design that called for round
glass bosses on bail type jars. Capitalizing on the name Drey, Schram glass made
several bail and mason type fruit jars including the Drey Ever Seal ($5-$10),
Drey Improved Ever Seal ($4-$6), Drey Mason ($2-$4), Drey Perfect Mason
($10-$15) and the Drey Square Mason ($6-$8). Half gallons and half pints in
these jars list for more. Ball Brothers took over the Schram company in 1925.

Subject: (5.8)
Presto jar.

Your
Presto jar was made from the late 1920s through the 1940s. It was made by the
Owens-Illinois glass company in both Toledo, Ohio and San Francisco, CA for the
Cupples Co of St. Louis, MO.

The
value of a Presto jar is perhaps $5 unless it's a half-pint which is $15 or
more. Some half-gallons are also more valuable i.e. $6-$8.

Subject: (5.9) Jar
embossed "Duraglas"?

Those
are commercial product jars (mayonnaise, pickles, etc.) from the '40s through
the '60s. The Owens Illinois Glass Company of Toledo, OH registered the
trademark "Duraglas" on September 23, 1941 claiming its use since
November 1940. They are not considered to be particularly rare and usually are
not listed in fruit jar books.

Subject: (5.10)
Four-gallon Mason jar with an Eagle embossed on the reverse.

This
is a display jar that was never intended for canning but was used in stores to
display items such a pickles or beef jerky. Owens-Illinois Glass Co. Libbey
Glass Div., Toledo, OH, made them in 1975. However, as a go-with, these jars
are somewhat popular with some fruit jar collectors. It was produced in four
colors: clear, aqua, smoky amber and cornflower blue. These jars are worth
about $50 each. A smaller version of this jar (worth much less) was still made
in the 1990s and might be found in restaurant supply stores such as Smart and
Final.

The
ubiquitous Ball Perfect Mason was the most produced fruit jar in the 1930s and
1940s. It stands to reason that the "perfect mason" sometimes
wouldn't be so "perfect." There are seven known spelling errors of
perfect known.

PEREECT,
PEPFECT, PEREFCT, PERFFCT, PFRFECT, PFRFECT, PERFEOT

All
of these jars are listed at $15 each.

Subject: (5.12) Jar
with "Ball" on the bottom.

"I
found a small round jar with "Ball" on the bottom. The
"all" of Ball is underlined just like a Ball fruit jar. Other #'s and
letters are also on the bottom. What have I found?"

It's
probably a newer product jar. In recent years Ball has made many containers
(glass, plastic and metal) for the food and beverage industries and the Ball
logo is even found on soft drink cans. According to their website, Ball makes
more than 35 billion beverage cans annually at 25 plants in North America.
Occasionally I see salesman samples of these cans at swap meets. In 1996 Ball
stopped making glass containers for the food industry. However, Ball-brand home
canning jars continue to be sold by Alltrista Corporation under a licensing
agreement with the company.

Can
you identify my jar? It is an amber quart with an unusual closure a spiral metal
clamp. There is no embossing on the jar only the name on the bottom P LORILLARD
Co. The lid is embossed with GEO.HELME.CO OF NEW JERSEY PATENTED JULY 16 1872.

Your
jar originally held snuff. The P. Lorillard company of New Jersey was a major
distributor of snuff from the 1870s through 1900. This jar is of interest to
collectors because the original paper label recommended the use of empty jars
for home canning. The closure on your jar is called a "Cohansey"
closure and was popular on packing jars of the time. Your jar is worth about
$35 complete with label and about $20 without.

Subject: (5.14) Mason
(star emblem) Jar

The
Mason “star” Jars were made in the 70s and are fairly common. These jars were
made by the Owens-Illinois Glass Co., at their Alton, IL Plant. Some of these
jars have screw tops while others have glass lids and wire bales.

Subject: (5.15) Mom’s
(picture of a woman) Mason Jar

These
jars are common and can still be used for home canning. The Home Products
Division of the Ohio Container Co., Columbus, OH, made them in the 1970s. The jars
were made at various glass plants.

Subject: (5.16) Kinsella
1874 True Mason

Your
Kinsella jar was actually a coffee jar that many later used for home canning.
It was made between 1935-1940 probably by the Owens-Illinois company for the
Kinsella Coffee Company. The coffee company was founded in 1874, but the jars
are not that old. As far as I know that jar only comes in a quart size and in a
salt/pepper shaker. The quart is worth about $8.

Subject: (5.17) Knox
(K in Keystone) Mason

The
Knox jars were made in the 1940s by the Knox Glass Bottle Co. in Knox, PA The
pints and quarts are worth about $6. The half pints and half gallons are of
greater value to collectors.

Subject: (5.18) Golden
Harvest (cornucopia) Mason

This
jar is common and made in the late 1970s by the Glass Containers Corp. of
Fullerton, CA.

Subject: (5.19)
Lamb Mason

Your
jar was made between 1930-1945 by the Lamb Glass Co.of Vernon, OH. It lists
around $5 or $6.

Subject: 6
Suggestions for collecting

Subject: (6.1)
Advice on how to start collecting or to get back into collecting.

I
would first get a copy of the new Red Book (if you don't already have the
current one.)

Secondly
I would recommend that you subscribe to the Fruit Jar News out of New Jersey.
If you happen to have any jars for sale or trade you could run an ad in the
newsletter and have people send for your list. Otherwise you could run a wanted
ad. Also include your email address in all correspondence or ads. Having email
is great as you can just attach a copy of your list to your email or a dealer
can send you their list via email. I've gotten good jars this way.

There
are also fruit jar pages on the web where you can post wanted and for sale ads
or search for jars. If you want to look at an on-line sales list so that you
can get a general idea of the price of some jars then check out John Hathaway’s
jar website at http://www.megalink.net/~meidea/

If
you ever get out to Indiana you should also check out the twice-yearly show of
the Indiana fruit jar club. Fruit Jar collectors from all over the country
belong to the Indiana club so if you would like more info on the club I could
also get it for you. Usually attendees visit each other's rooms between show
hours and a lot of jar talk and swapping goes on there.

You
could also run an ad in Bottles and Extras, or become a Federation member,
which entitles you to a free ad every year. Many fruit jar collectors are
members of the Federation. See the website at www.fohbc.com
The Federation also maintains a list of bottle shows you might be able to
attend and club meetings you might be able to attend. Many jar people attend
local shows and are members of local bottle clubs.

Subject: (6.2) Can
you recommend a good book on the history of jars or jar makers?

All
of the major fruit jar research books out there are out of print. There has
been some discussion about reprinting Dick Roller's "Standard Fruit Jar
Reference." There is also the two part Creswick book entitled "The
Fruit Jar Works" and two classic books from the 1970s namely "Bottle
Makers and Their Marks" by Julian Harrison Toulouse, 1971 and "A
Collector's Manual, Fruit Jars" by Julian Harrison Toulouse, 1969. For the
research minded, before his passing, Dick Roller published "Fruit Jar
Patents Compiled by Dick Roller," 1996 and "Indiana Glass Factories
Notes Compiled by Dick Roller," 1994. The latter book is a history on the
earlier glass factories of 65 Indiana towns.

Subject: (6.3) How
do I go about selling my old jars?

You
should make a list and then determine how much your jars are worth by
consulting a reputable price guide. (Like the Red Book.) Once you know what you
have and what it's worth, swap meets are always good places. If you have a
booth or know of anyone that has a booth at an antique mall you could try that.
You might even try selling them at a yard sale. We sold a few at a yard sale
once, advertising the jars in the newspaper, and the several people came out,
even a guy from the power company with his rig. So you never know. If you have
any better jars to sell then you might try putting out a sales list or put them
up on an on-line auction like eBay. You can advertise a list in any bottle or
jar related publication like the Fruit Jar News or Bottles and Extras. If you
have a lot of jars to sell, and you think they would be of great interest to
collectors, consider buying a table at a local bottle show.

1.
There have been new reproduction fruit jars from China turning up in antique
malls for outrageous prices but they're worth about $6-$8 each. The regular old
zinc lids don’t fit right and the aluminum lids that come with them are new and
shiny giving away the jar's recent manufacture. These reproductions are copies
of the old Hero jars made in the 1880s. As a collector these new jars usually
have a poor quality to their color and the glass has a slicker than usual feel.
The lips and the screw threads don't look right either. These new Chinese
reproductions are coming in light green, light blue, light pink and light
cobalt.

2.
There were also some reproductions that were made in the 70s that are much
better quality than those above. The colors are truer, they have ground lips
and the old zinc lids fit correctly. Collectors have paid $75-$100 and up for
some of them.

3.
In the early 90s some reproduction Lightning half-pints started showing up in
apple green, amber and aqua. These jars are distinguishable due to their smooth
lips and unusual and new looking wire bales. Also, the apple green color is a
give-away -- it's bright and unique.

Subject: (7.2) How
can you spot a reproduction?

It
is widely accepted that the first reproduction jars were some wax sealers made
in Mexico. They were made in the colors of black-amber, emerald green and olive
green. Since then other jars have appeared, some which have risen to become
collectors items in their own rite and others, like the recent reproductions
from China, will probably never be worth a lot to collectors.

Sometimes
mold seams can give a reproduction away. On some reproduction jars the mold
seams are offset and out of line with the neck bead. Sometimes the hardware
will look new or out of place i.e. bale wires that are not tied in the way you
would expect them to be. Often times the glass has a greasy feel to it and the
colors are not like the colors you would expect to see in an old jar.

The
black glass reproductions have a purple tint to their coloring. The old
original black glass jars usually have a green or brown tint to them. Hold a
black glass jar up to the light and you will be able to tell.

Probably
the best way to protect yourself is to buy from reputable dealers and if your
are in doubt about an item ask an experienced collector. The best teacher for
spotting reproductions is experience.

Subject: (7.3) Ball
commemorative jars from 1976.

The
Ball Bicentennial jars were made from about 1975-1980 by Ball and another
manufacturer. Value depends upon capacity. The half-pint and half-gallons are
worth about $20 each. The quarts, which were the most common and sold in
grocery stores all across the country in 1976, are worth about $6 each.

Subject: (7.4) Do
you know of any sources of new jars with glass lids?